Issues about indigenous societies
These real-world issues about indigenous societies will help you to explore knowledge questions, analyse the latest events and issues related to this optional theme, and apply TOK terms, ideas, and concepts to authentic situations.
You can also use these issues as discussion points within lessons, examples to support your essay arguments, and case studies to show how TOK manifests in world around us in your exhibition commentary.
Real-world issues on the nature and scope of indigenous societies
- These issues on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 1, our first BQ unit for TOK
- They also link to the nature and scope of IS, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A Conversation article, explaining the differences between cultural appropriation, and cultural appreciation.
A Guardian article, looking at 35 traditions, skills, and activities that have been added to Unesco’s cultural heritage list.
Real-world issues on the relationship between indigenous societies and values
- These issues on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 2, our second BQ unit for TOK
- They also link to indigenous societies and ethics, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A World Economic Forum article, discussing the decision by the Netherlands that they will be returning all stolen colonial era artefacts.
A Guardian article, considering whether Justin Bieber’s new hairstyle amounts to cultural appropriation.
Real-world issues on the communication of indigenous ideas
- These issues on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 3, our third BQ unit for TOK
- They also link to methods, tools, and practices, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A Guardian article, looking at how a Clint Eastwood film has just been dubbed into Navajo.
A Guardian article, looking at the link between indigenous language and knowledge about ecology – and how when we lose the former, the latter can disappear as well.
A Smithsonian article, telling the story of how one family is trying to revive the indigenous Hawaiian language.
An Aeon essay that looks at the contrasting connotations of ‘patrimony’ and ‘heritage’, and how it relates to indigenous knowledge and artefacts.
Real-world issues on indigenous societies, perspectives, and context
- These KQs on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 4, our fourth BQ unit for TOK
- They also link to perspectives & context, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A History Today photo essay that looks at what happens when our documentary evidence of indigenous culture is not based on ‘asymmetric power relations, subjugation, and colonialism’.
A Conversation article, which discusses how much of our botanic knowledge was established by colonial means, and the way Kew Gardens in London are trying to address that.
Real-world issues on creating new indigenous knowledge
- These KQs on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 5, our fifth BQ units for TOK
- They also link to methods, tools, and practices, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A Guardian article, looking at how two communities in the Peruvian Andes drew on indigenous knowledge to connect their villages via a woven bridge.
A Smithsonian article, looking at the ‘Oregon Trail’ video game, and how it has developed since it was first released back in the 1970s.
KnowReal-world issues on becoming a discerning knower about indigenous societies
- These KQs on indigenous societies relate to Big Question 6, our final BQ unit for TOK
- They also link to methods, tools, and practices, part of the IB’s knowledge framework
- Use the Exploration Points document below to unpack the media sources and link them to the TOK course (available to members of the site)
- Members can also use our Investigating Issues resource to look at related stories, and widen their understanding of how TOK manifests in the world around us
A Conversation article, which looks at a film about indigenous stories about the night sky, and how they help us to comprehend the universe.
A Guardian article, arguing that indigenous peoples were shut out of the Cop26 discussions – “literally and figuratively”.
Link these issues to the exhibition
Our TOK exhibition prompt decoder helps you to understand each of the 35 IA prompts, link them to the core and optional themes, and the 12 key TOK concepts, and explore them via quotes, questions, TED talks, and media sources. Access the decoder here.
Explore related events and issues
Investigating Issues offers you a completely new way to plan and teach TOK. The resource gathers together over 120 major global issues, provides a collection of media sources to explore each one, and suggests ways to link them to the different elements of the TOK course and to the 12 key concepts.
Unpack these issues & link them to TOK
Our sixty-six Exploration Point documents (updated every month) help you delve deeper into TOK via media sources, unpacking ideas, guidance on the key concepts, and other tips. HERE is an example of a EP document (for history & perspectives) – join us to gain access to the other sixty-five!
Subscribe to the TOK newsletter
Our TOK newsletter helps you explore the most important events and issues going on today, and fully grasp how TOK concepts manifest in the real world. Read a recent edition here, subscribe to the free version here, and gain access to the premium version by joining theoryofknowledge.net.